September 2012
802.11-12/1081r34
doc: IEEE
IEEE P802.11
Wireless LANs
Draft PAR Proposal for IEEE 802.11aq
Date: 2012-09-18
Author(s):
Name
Stephen McCann
Affiliation
Research in Motion
Address
200 Bath Road, Slough,
Berkshire, SL1 3XE, UK
email
smccann@rim.com
Abstract
This is a draft PAR for IEEE 802.11 Pre-Association Discovery (PAD).
Submission
page 1
Stephen McC
September 2012
12/1081r34
doc: IEEE 802.11-
P802.11
Submitter Email: smccann@rim.com
Type of Project: Amendment to IEEE Standard 802.11-2012
PAR Request Date: 20-Sep-2012
PAR Approval Date:
PAR Expiration Date:
Status: Unapproved PAR, PAR for an Amendment to an existing IEEE Standard
1.1 Project Number: P802.11aq
1.2 Type of Document: Standard
1.3 Life Cycle: Full Use
2.1 Title: Standard for Information technology--Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and
metropolitan area networks--Specific requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer
(PHY) Specifications – Amendment: Pre-Association Discovery
3.1 Working Group: Wireless LAN Working Group (C/LM/WG802.11)
Contact Information for Working Group Chair
Name: Bruce Kraemer
Email Address: bkraemer@marvell.com
Phone: 321-751-3988
Contact Information for Working Group Vice-Chair
Name: Jon Rosdahl
Email Address: jrosdahl@ieee.org
Phone: 801-492-4023
3.2 Sponsoring Society and Committee: IEEE Computer Society/LAN/MAN Standards Committee (C/LM)
Contact Information for Sponsor Chair
Name: Paul Nikolich
Email Address: p.nikolich@ieee.org
Phone: 857.205.0050
Contact Information for Standards Representative
Name: James Gilb
Email Address: gilb@ieee.org
Phone: 858-229-4822
4.1 Type of Ballot: Individual
4.2 Expected Date of submission of draft to the IEEE-SA for Initial Sponsor Ballot: May 2015
4.3 Projected Completion Date for Submittal to RevCom: April 2016
5.1 Approximate number of people expected to be actively involved in the development of this project: 45
5.2.a. Scope of the complete standard: The scope of this standard is to define one medium access control (MAC)
and several physical layer (PHY) specifications for wireless connectivity for fixed, portable, and moving stations
(STAs) within a local area.
5.2.b. Scope of the project: This amendment defines modifications to the IEEE 802.11 standard, above the physical
layer (PHY), to enable delivery of pre-association service information discovery by IEEE 802.11 stations (STAs).
5.3 Is the completion of this standard dependent upon the completion of another standard: No
5.4 Purpose: The purpose of this standard is to provide wireless connectivity for fixed, portable, and moving stations
within a local area. This standard also offers regulatory bodies a means of standardizing access to one or more
frequency bands for the purpose of local area communication.
5.5 Need for the Project: The WLAN environment is evolving and is no longer one where stations are merely looking
for access to internet service. This creates opportunities to deliver new services, as the IEEE 802.11 standard needs
to be enhanced to better advertise and describe these new services.
Submission
page 2
Stephen McCann, RIM
September 2012
12/1081r34
doc: IEEE 802.11-
This amendment will provide mechanisms that assist in pre-association discovery of services by addressing the
means to advertise their existence and enable delivery of information that describes them. This information about
services is to be made available prior to association by stations operating on IEEE 802.11 wireless networks.
There are existing higher layer service discovery/description approaches (e.g. UPnP, Bonjour) as well as mechanisms
to deliver information in pre-association states (e.g. just as ANQP can be delivered over GAS).
This amendment would look at basic advertising approaches for services that permit information about these services
to be delivered using an approach that may avoid developing yet another service description scheme while leveraging
the existing evolving schemes.
This amendment will comply with IEEE Std 802, IEEE Std 802.1D, and IEEE Std 802.1Q.
5.6 Stakeholders for the Standard: The stakeholders of this standard are the developers and users of the Wireless
LAN devices, including service providers, manufacturers, health care workers, retail service providers, and many
others.
Intellectual Property
6.1.a. Is the Sponsor aware of any copyright permissions needed for this project?: No
6.1.b. Is the Sponsor aware of possible registration activity related to this project?: No
7.1 Are there other standards or projects with a similar scope?: No
7.2 Joint Development
Is it the intent to develop this document jointly with another organization?: No
8.1 Additional Explanatory Notes (Item Number and Explanation):
Submission
page 3
Stephen McCann, RIM